Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-09-24


railroad, and 1 had dealt withe him
for several years. When l received
the telegram [ went to the tele-
graph Office and wired Colonel
Minitree l would come. Then | made
my preparations for going. l showed
the telegram TO Mr.. X. W. Powers
and he advised me to go, and / asked
him to put me on record at the Board
meeting that night, and say that.
had l been there, / would have voted
No. l took the 600 p. NJ. train
and went to Washington. That was
Monday the 18th. Went TO the Metro
politan Hotel, but did not find Colonel
Minitree. The next morning l went
up to the Richmond and Danville Com
pany's building to see Colonel Mini
tree. As ! went in he remarked that
he had just gotten my telegram but
that he didn't understand it. / told
him l had sent it in reply to his mes
sage. He said he hadn't sent any mes
sage TO me, and he called in his assist
ants and asked them about it, but none
Of them knew of it. We then
went to the telegraph Office and there
saw the original telegram which had
been sent me. We there met Mr..
Blythe Moore, an insurance-man OF
Richmond, and when / told him about
it he said: i think there are politics in
this / then determined to find out
who sent the telegram by a still-hunt +;
thought il would crop out after awhile
who sent it. But at the next meeting
OF the Board in July | was questioned
about why | was not there to vote the
preceding month and then l made the
statement to the Board"
HIS EMPLOYEE.
Mr.. Meredith "Had either of the
men who came to your Office ever been
in your employ 2"
"Yes," said Mr.. Otley zone of
them had-Mr. Murphy. BE had been
in my employ, and while so had access
to my books and knew of my business
dealings with Colonel Minitrec. He
went out of my employment the pre-
vious January QSS6) or December
QsS5). When / saw the hand
writing Of the telegram in Washing
ton l thought | recognized it,
and felt sure / had seen it somewhere.
As l recognized it the name of GER
tain man came INTO my mind, but [
hardly thought that he would do such a
thing. l thought he had too much
sense. When | came back | compared
Mr.. Murphy's writing with q fac simiic
OF the telegram, and recognized similar
characteristics in the handwriting. l
had not talked to Murphy for more
than six weeks after l made the state
ment before the Board, and then only
on business. Before this he had been
in my Office very often, and / noticed
lie did not ccme in often afterwards.
"Have you any letters Of Murphy's
that you are willing to submit to the
committee ?"
"Yes, sir, ] have. But think the
detectives have most OF the letters |
had in his writing"
This concluded Mr.. Meredith's ex-
animation.
CORROBORATION.
Mr.. Powers here took occasion to
confirm what had been said by Mr.. OF
ley about his conversation with him.
In reply to question by Mr.. Crump,
Mr.. Otley said that no private interests
of his would have been affected by his
absence rom the city on the 18th, and
he added: 81 believe the telegram was
sent to get me away, so that could not
vote on the Pizzini resolution"
In answer to a question by Mr..
Meredith the witness said his relations
with Murphy had been of such a cha
racter that Murphy would have talked
to him about the telegram but the
subject had never been mentioned d.
rectly or indirectly.
MR.. MURPHY TO BE sUMMONED.
Mr.. Meredith said that as Mr.. Muir
phys name had been brought so promi-
nently forward in this matter that il
would be well 10 summon him and al
low him to appear, with counsel ii he
should desire TO do so.
Mr.. Crump made a motion TO that eff
feet, which Was agreed to.
NIB. JOHN WREN.
Mr.. Meredith suggested that Detec-
tive John Wren, Sergeant Tomlinson,
and Policeman Hall be also summoned.
This was agreed to. He added : "Af-
ter you examine Wren You will have to
continue your examination in Washing
ton."
Mr.. MURPHY ABSENT.
Mr.. Otley said he understood Mr..
Murphy was ont OF the city and would
be away for two months.
The committee then adjourned, sub
iect to the call of the chairman.